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- 20 | How Dreams Become Reality: Neil Mann – Founder of Future Horizon
20 | How Dreams Become Reality: Neil Mann – Founder of Future Horizon
How to Open Your Mind to Forge the Future
What do you receive from steering between the worlds of business and tech for 20 years?
Hands that let you drive the future.
Neil Mann has held senior positions at Rio Tinto, Gartner, Kearney and UBS to name a few global giants.
He’s been on boards and within the C-Suite of multiple startups.
And he’s also an early-stage angel investor in over 20 disruptive companies.
Today, as the founder of Future Horizon, Neil helps business leaders stay ahead of what’s next by “delivering strategic foresight on emerging technology & explaining it in business terms.”
For anyone who wants to take control of their own future, please enjoy.
Q&A
What was the first piece of technology that you found awe-inspiring, and how did that experience compare to some of the cutting-edge digital tech you share about nowadays?
“What a great question! After some thought, the one that springs to mind was a ZX Spectrum 48k computer which belonged to my older brother. I can recall being about six years old, and – although it took a LONG and noisy time to load via cassette tapes – he let me play the game “Manic Miner” with it hooked up to our living room TV. Needless to say I was hooked! It would look comically simple today, but when you compare that the toys I happily amused myself with were small, die-cast cars – coupled with my imagination – this level of digital immersion was borderline mind-altering.
As well as enjoying the game, my mind quickly progressed to “what else can it do?” – and I’ve been thinking like that ever since.
I’m fascinated by what the future might look like, and how emerging technologies may shape our evolving world. The tech in and of itself is not where my fascination lies – it’s about what can we do with it, what problem does it solve, or what does it allow us to do that’s new, compelling, and exciting? I’m enormously optimistic that cutting-edge innovations will result in a better future for us all – which is why strategic foresight is so important –
but, ultimately, that is down to us: the future isn’t something that happens to us, the future is something we do.”
What’s a dream you had as a child that has stayed with you to this day?
“To be an effective futurist, you have to be something of a dreamer. My mindset is very much “what if” rather than “what is” – and one of the reasons I am based in Asia is precisely because of this. I moved around a lot as a child, and so in a sense consider myself to be “homeless” to a degree – but that’s actually been a blessing.
As a child I’d love to read about history and nature (especially National Geographic), and so I was exposed early to different cultures, geographies, and various ways of being which I have embraced ever since. I’m endlessly curious and fascinated by how other people think, believe, and act – and then when you apply a technology layer on top of that it becomes enormously rich. I love going to new places, trying out different things, and learning about diverse people.
I firmly believe that every single person that you come across can teach you something, we all have something to offer and more in common than we perhaps want to admit.
I think advances in technology can bring us closer together, if we use it correctly.”
What were early barriers to pursuing your biggest dreams, internal or external? What mindsets, habits and strategies helped you overcome them?
“This is a great one; the easy answer in terms of barrier was probably myself! My natural disposition is to be quite hard on myself, and that’s taken a lot of hard introspective work over the years. I’ve been fortunate to have some great people mentor me, and worked with a coach for a while a few years back which was worth its weight in gold.
I have a couple of practical tips I’m happy to share. The first is that I have a copy of the book “The Daily Stoic” which sits on my work desk, and read the entry for any given day first-thing in the morning: it’s a great way to be actively mindful and sets me up for the day. I aim to exercise early – I’m one of those hateful morning people – so I’m in the pool or get a sweat on in my local park by 07:00 most mornings before I start in front of the laptop; that energises me, and the worst workout is the one that you don’t do.
I also find that setting yourself goals that you iteratively work towards works for me:
my two biggest ones for this year are to swim the equivalent of the circumference of Singapore (~150km) over the course of the year – which I am doing 1.5km at a time and chipping away at it – and then also creating and posting fresh content on emerging technology every single day to LinkedIn.
Both of these require perseverance and tenacity, but more than anything else the simple thing that helps me is to have a visual tracker – I simply mark down progress on a sheet of paper sellotaped to the wall!
I’m not a zealot, and always strive for pragmatism: not everything requires a technical, digital solution to be effective.”
How had your leadership experiences at Kearney, UBS and Rio Tinto differed with running Future Horizon?
“I’m grateful for all of my previous experience, as it’s been part of the journey that’s brought me to where I am today. My career has been a rich tapestry – different industries, various parts of the world, and a range of roles. I often introduce myself as “the cross between a chameleon and a Swiss Army Knife”! The one thing that ties it all together and that runs through it all though is that I’ve always been about change – “business as usual” doesn’t stimulate me.
I love learning about new industries, and seeing not only what makes them special but also how many parallels and synergies there are (that one might not even begin to think of prior). Each of the companies you mention have a unique culture – and their own strengths and weaknesses. For me it’s less about the organisations themselves though, and more about the people that I’ve encountered and worked with; at every firm there are some brilliant individuals who I have learned from, and had laughs with! A sense of humour is critical, especially in difficult situations.
Whenever I’ve been put in charge of teams, I’ve always aimed to be a Leader rather than a Manager; the nuance may be subtle, but it’s critical to get the best out of everyone.
Being a career consultant and natural advisor means you have to be able to have a point-of-view, be able to articulate those opinions plus provide supporting evidence – and sometimes defend them!
When you’re working in a company – effectively for someone else – you at times are mandated by others to dilute what you’re trying to say…which didn’t always sit well with me.
What I love most about running Future Horizon is that I get to do what truly makes me happy – being an information junkie every day, focusing on strategic foresight, being creative around innovation and emerging technologies, crafting my own perspectives, plus working with interesting people and organisations to make them better prepared for the future.”
What would you like to tell business leaders and tech enthusiasts about Future Horizon?
“In a nutshell, exploring futures and building anticipation is zero risk: shape what comes next over your preferred horizon. We deliver strategic foresight on emerging technology & explain it in business terms – independent, objective, impartial.
In a business environment where technological advancements rapidly redefine the competitive landscape, your ability to foresee and adapt to emerging trends directly influences your bottom line and shareholder value.
Future Horizon offers more than just guidance; we provide a strategic advantage by integrating forward-looking technology insights into your immediate decision-making processes.
With over 20 years of unbiased, global expertise across various industries, our independent advisory helps you not only keep pace but stay ahead, ensuring that your investments today pay dividends tomorrow. Investing in our services means securing a partner who is committed to enhancing your organisation’s resilience and growth without any conflicting interests.
Choose Future Horizon to transform emerging technologies from potential disruptions into powerful drivers of profitability and market leadership.
Think bold. Think broad. Think beyond.”
If you could capture the attention of every single person for thirty seconds, what would you say?
“Actively listen to others more than you talk; there is a reason for the ratio of all of us having two ears but only one mouth.
There is no point being “the richest stiff in the graveyard”; the most valuable resource we have is time, as it is irreplaceable – so use it wisely, and whilst it gives you options…money isn’t everything.
In any incendiary circumstances, you can consciously choose for your actions to either be water (cool the situation down) or petrol (make it even hotter) – always be mindful about what you do next.”
I hope you enjoyed delving into the mind of a futurist.
You can follow and connect with Neil below:
If you’re looking for Advisory, Research and/or Knowledge for strategic foresight on emerging technology, you can check out Future Horizon below:
You can also sign-up for Future Horizon’s free weekly Email newsletter, explaining emerging technology in Plain English, here:
And as always,
Keep dremaking.